By John Richardson ASIAN ethylene markets appear to be in a muddle over the Middle East supply picture. Click here for a graph of the latest pricing – EhylenePrices1March2011.ppt A shipping industry source we spoke to recently insisted that more rather than less C2s were being exported from the region as opposed to the reduced […]
Asian Chemical Connections
Petchems Confront Another Lehman Bros
By John Richardson THE main issue facing Asian cracker operators a couple of weeks ago was how long co-product credits would continue to compensate for a moribund China polyethylene (PE) market. Feedstock cost is now the biggest immediate worry. A hike in naphtha saw integrated low-density PE (LDPE) margins plummet by $172/tonne, according to the […]
Lotte’s Indonesian gamble
By Malini Hariharan South Korea’s Lotte Group, parent company of Honam Petrochemical, is making yet another bold move. After acquiring Malaysia’s Titan Chemicals last year, Lotte has set its sights on a major petrochemical project in Indonesia. “We will start the feasibility study to develop a petrochemical project in Merak, Banten province, this year. The […]
India projects see more delays
By Malini Hariharan The blog has been updating the status of Indian petrochemical projects and has found that many are running behind schedule. Reliance Industries’ mega cracker at Jamnagar has yet to get off the starting block. The company is holding on to an end-2014 start schedule for the 1.4m-1.6m tonnes/year cracker which will be […]
Pulled in all directions
By Malini Hariharan Asian polyolefin producers face a difficult time with markets being pulled in different directions. Feedstock costs have steadily moved up at a time when downstream demand and price direction remains uncertain. Political upheaval in Libya and Bahrain pushed WTI crude oil to over $94/bbl yesterday while Brent hit $107/bbl. Naphtha soared to […]
PX: Still going strong
By Malini Hariharan Paraxylene (PX) markets are on a roll. Prices have risen by 20% since the beginning of the year and were assessed at around $1,620/tonne cfr Asia late last week by ICIS pricing. One contract nomination for March was out yesterday with JX Nippon Oil proposing a $110/tonne increase to $1,730/tonne cfr Asia. […]
Weak demand haunts China PE markets
By John Richardson IS China’s polyethylene (PE) market going through a temporary lull or are we seeing a sea change in conditions that could spell problems for the rest of this year? This was the question, to paraphrase Hamlet, facing the global industry late last week as lacklustre post Chinese New Year (CNY) demand continued. […]
European petchems could be tempted to overproduce
By John Richardson EUROPEAN refiners are “awash with naphtha” as a result of long-term structural length and a lack of arbitrage, a petrochemicals feedstock purchasing manager told the blog yesterday. The decline in US gasoline demand (according to most experts consumption in the States peaked in December 2007 and has been falling ever since) has […]
Job-hopping Causes Post-New Year Demand Dip
Chinese workers are on the hop…. Source of picture: advanced-fibre.com By John Richardson CHINA’S polyolefin demand in the few days of proper trading that have taken place since the Lunar New Year has been described as “horrendous” and “grim” by two traders the blog spoke to yesterday. This was confirmed by a source […]
Saudi Producers Remain Confident
By John Richardson THE optimism of Saudi Arabian petrochemical producers remains extremely high, according to an industry observer who spoke to the blog. One might think we were to some extent stating the blatantly obvious as their margins will have swelled thanks to higher oil prices. But there is also little concern among the producers […]
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